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Posts Tagged 'Crew'

Here at SoftLayer each shift is divided into a 9 hour crew. There’s the day shift, the evening shift, and the overnight crew. Each shift has perks and drawbacks as well as little idiosyncrasies that you won’t find on the other shifts. Each crew is as hard working and knowledgeable as the next, however each crew has certain hurdles to jump over in order to keep the data center running in top form. There’s one team – dubbed the SLombies, which have been assigned to man the datacenter in the wee hours of the morning.

Being on the overnight crew requires a certain degree of dedication not found in other types of work. Aside from the obvious (sleeping during sunlight hours, getting calls from friends while sleeping, etc), the SLombies require an additional degree of dedication. While much of the world sleeps we’re wide awake (thank you caffeine) and kicking butt in the DC. Anyone from the overnight crew can tell you it’s not easy and we often have to add titles to our work description. While the hours aren’t the most desirable, certain things make working overnight worthwhile. Our crew is one of the most tight-knit groups of individuals I’ve ever worked with. The talent on this shift is beyond belief and when tough issues come along we all put our heads together to make sure the problems are solved quickly, efficiently, and correctly. Working in such an environment breeds loyalty to your crew, and because of that, we have each others’ backs.

While working overnight can be costly on the body there are always certain advantages to any shift. While most businesses close after normal work hours, we’re able to run errands after work before we’re required to call it a day. It takes some getting used to but the rewards of working with such a hard working and dedicated team goes beyond lack of sleep and weird hours. For those of you in the continental US rest easy knowing that SLombies are working hard to keep the datacenter running smoothly and to answer any questions that may keep you awake at night.